The political influence of China and Russia in Latin America was pointed out on Wednesday by General Laura Richardson, head of the United States Southern Command, as a destabilizing element in the region.
“In South America, China is playing chess and Russia is playing checkers. Combined multifaceted actions are destabilizing the region, empowering authoritarianism and undermining democratic principles,” Richardson said at the 2022 South American Defense Conference taking place in Quito, Ecuador.
Richardson is a veteran US Army pilot, four-star general, and the first woman to lead Southern Command, which encompasses collaborative operations and strategies in Central and South America and the Caribbean.
On the other hand, the high official returned to the accusations of poaching by the government of the Asian giant in various parts of the world and that have escalated to international organizations.
“China is also the biggest offender of illegal, irregular and unreported fishing in this region and around the world. Every year 350 to 600 Chinese vessels operate near the Galapagos,” he stated.
Last February, the US climate envoy, John Kerry, spoke at the One Ocean Summit, held in France, and denounced illegal fishing operations using trawl nets that destroy habitat and deplete the world’s fish stocks. Kerry said illegal activity accounts for a fifth of all world fishing.
The US launched a collaborative operation with Ecuador by putting into use the aircraft called P-3 Orion for the reconnaissance of illegal actions in Galapagos Islandswhose resulting information is only handled by the South American government.
Confront drug trafficking
The military conference, which is taking place these days in Quito and in which high-ranking military leaders from the Americas are participating, also addresses the role of the Armed Forces in dealing with security threats, focusing on organized crime and drug trafficking.
General Luis Proaño, Chief of the Joint Command of the Ecuadorian Army, stressed that drug trafficking “constitutes a serious transnational threat, as well as the presence of irregular armed groups, which have also become an existing risk for all Latin American countries.” .
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Luis Lara asserted that these scourges “seriously threaten not only the peace and security of countries, but the very existence of States” and urged them to “act firmly and effectively” against the same.
A delegation from the United States is taking part in the conference, led by Richardson, who met the day before with the president Guillermo Lasso, and the ministers of Foreign Affairs, Security, and the commanders of the Armed Forces are also present.
China responds to the US
Later Wednesday, the Chinese embassy in Quito responded strongly to Richardson’s remarks, calling them “ridiculous.”
“Laura Jane Richardson made ridiculous statements about China, without hiding the pretensions to confuse public opinion, and to defame and attack without any basis, both China and Sino-Ecuadorian and Sino-Latin American relations”, he pointed the embassy in a statement.
The diplomatic legation also addressed General Richardson’s remarks about illegal fishing activities.
“The official spoke about illegal fishing in China, without knowing that Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Juan Carlos Holguín stated on several occasions that, in the fishing cooperation between China and Ecuador, the two governments maintain close communication and carry out dialogues and coordination through through diplomatic channels to jointly protect the marine ecosystem,” reads the note.
The communication also refers to the result of the bilateral collaboration of these two governments that, through The Last Beach Cleanup initiative, tries to reduce plastic pollution and stated that “in the last two years, 14,988 tons of waste arrived in Ecuador from the United States. ”, which he described as “shameful” when pointing out that the United States refuses to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS, for its acronym in English.
*With the collaboration of Journalist Néstor Aguilera, VOA correspondent in Ecuador.
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